When a silver halide color photographic material is developed with a color developer, an oxidized aromatic primary amine-color developing agent in the developer is reacted with a coupler in the material to form indophenol, indaniline, indamine, azomethine, phenoxazine, phenazine or the like dye, and a color image is formed therefrom, which is well known. In this system, a subtractive color process is generally used for the color-reproduction, in which light-sensitive silver halide emulsions which are selectively sensitive to blue, green, and red and the respective complementary yellow, magenta and cyan color image-forming agents are used. For the formation of the yellow color image, for example, an acylacetanilide or dibenzoylmethane-type coupler is used; for the formation of the magenta color image, a pyrazolone, pyrazolobenzimidazole, pyrazolopyrazole, pyrazolotriazole, cyanoacetophenone, or indazolone-type coupler is mainly used; and for the formation of the cyan color image, a phenol or naphthol-type coupler is mainly used.
The dyes formed from these couplers, however, do not show an ideal absorption spectra, and in particular, the magenta and cyan dyes generally show some broad absorption spectra or have some extra-absorptions in a short wavelength range, and these are disadvantageous to the color-reproduction in the color photographic materials.
In particular, the extra-absorptions in the short wavelength range are apt to cause deterioration of the saturation of the dyes. In order to overcome these defects, one means is to intensify the interimage effect, whereby the saturation may be improved in some degree.
The interimage effect is described, for example, in Handon et al., Journal of the Optical Society of America, Vol. 42, pp. 663-669; and A. Thiels, Zeitschrift fur Wissenschaftliche Photographie, Photophysique and Photo-chemie, Vol. 47, pp. 106-118 and 246-255.
Regarding means for the intensification of the interimage effect, U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,486 describes the introduction of a diffusive 4-thiazoline-2-thione into an exposed color reversal photographic element, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,487 describes the introduction of the diffusive 4-thiazoline-2-thione into a non-exposed color reversal photographic element.
In addition, Japanese Patent Publication No. 34169/73 describes that the existence of an N-substituted-4-thiazoline-2-thione compound in the development of a color photographic material to reduce the silver halide therein to silver is effective for the extreme intensification of the interimage effect.
Research Disclosure, RD No. 13116 (March, 1975) describes the provision of a colloidal silver-containing layer between a cyan layer and a magenta layer in a color reversal photographic element to obtain a desirable interimage effect.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,553 describes a color reversal photographic material with a layer arrangement such that the transfer of iodide ion is possible during development, in which one layer contains latent image-forming silver iodohalide grains and the other layer contains both latent image-forming silver halide grains and other silver halide grains whose surfaces are so fogged that they may be developed irrespective of the image exposure, whereby a desirable interimage effect may be attained.
However, these methods have serious defects in that the interimage effect is insufficient and that the use of the colloidal silver-containing layer and the introduction of fogged silver halide grains results in deterioration of the color density in the color reversal photographic materials.
Apart from these methods, some other means are known for the improvement of the interimage effect. For example, a coupler capable of releasing a development-inhibitory substance such as a benzotriazole derivative or a mercapto compound in the coupling reaction with an oxidized form of a color developing agent in the color development treatment (or a so-called DIR coupler) is used; or a hydroquinone compound capable of releasing a development-inhibitory substance such as an iodide ion or a mercapto compound in the development is used. However, the use of these compounds is accompanied by extreme desensitization or deterioration of a color density, and therefore, the use of these compounds is to be limited.